In an Australian first, gift card shoppers can now purchase gift cards for less than the face value.

The savings are available via a brand new online gift card portal launched today, just in time for Christmas. Australians spend over $2 billion annually on gift cards. Gift cards make up over 20% of Australians’ total Christmas shopping spend and their popularity is growing.

Developed by Cashrewards, Australia’s largest online shopping platform, the portal will give consumers unprecedented access, effective discounts of 5% on some of Australia’s favourites branded gift cards.

Just some of the brands available include top-sellers Woolworths, Dan Murphy’s, Myer, Jetstar, David Jones and many more.

“We’ve picked up on the popularity and convenience of gift cards and wanted to provide a dedicated online marketplace connecting Australians and retailers so they can tap into the flexibility and convenience gift cards offer – for the best price available,” said Andrew Clarke, Cashrewards CEO and founder.

“The fact that many gift cards are now ‘instant’ and discounted, allowing you to choose online delivery of an attractive certificate, code or similar to the recipient is great for last minute gifts. Physical cards also remain extremely popular.”

Mr Clarke went on to explain that Cashrewards data, along with that from other sources and the anecdotal evidence of hundreds of retailers and wholesalers, including gift card specialists, shows that gift cards are beloved by consumers and retailers alike. Further, sales figures indicate that this popularity spans all demographics, making them the ideal solution to “unwanted gift syndrome”.

“No one wants to spend their hard-earned cash on gifts that will never be used, thrown away, returned or sold the minute Boxing Day hits,” said Mr Clarke.

“We’ve had gift cards on our site since inception, but have been looking for ways to boost value for our members when they purchase them. This portal is step one in that journey and we’re very proud to have made it all happen in time for Christmas.”

Fast facts about gift cards:

Seventy per cent of gift card expenditure occurs between September and December, peaking on 23 December, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day itself

Uplift in gift card sales ahead of Christmas can be in the order of ten to 20 times usual sale rates

Retailers favour gift cards because of upsell: a $100 card typically translates to a sale in the region of $160

The average value of a gift card purchased in store is around $50; however, by far the highest average value purchases, at around $90, take place in service stations

The top three sales categories are groceries (Woolworths & Coles; followed by electrical (JB Hi-Fi & Harvey Norman; followed by department stores (David Jones & Myer)

Woolworths Wish is Australia’s most popular gift card: it can be used for groceries, liquor, petrol and more

Cashrewards members receive a 5% discount on Woolworths Wish cards, the most popular card on the site. As well as the discount, members still earn loyalty points for purchases and can use the cards at other participating outlets, including Caltex, Dan Murphys and Big W.

For those who consider gift cards “impersonal”, a great trick is to use the discounted card to purchase a (discounted) physical gift to give instead

A favourite value shopping tactic is to use gift cards in the post-Christmas sales

Smart shoppers record and diarise their gift card purchases and set reminders to ensure they don’t expire

Most providers are now extending the validity of cards to 18 months or as long as three years, with so-called “break” rates – that is, when a card is never redeemed – as low as 3% on some of the most popular cards

Cashrewards’ online community has some 325,000 members and accounts for 2% of Australians’ total online spend, more than $600 million annually. It has some 1200 retail partners, including some of the best known global and local retail brands. The gift card portal can be found at www.cashrewards.com.au. Membership is free and joining takes fifteen seconds.

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Cashrewards is Australia's leading savings and cashback site with no membership fees and thousands of coupons, special offers, deals and stores like eBay, Dan Murphy's, Expedia and Woolworths as well as the highest cashback rates from over 1000 stores. Cashback is real money you earn simply by starting your shopping from Cashrewards and clicking through to any of the 1000+ featured stores to purchase as usual. It's an easy way to be a smart, savvy shopper and you can save hundreds of dollars a year. Cashrewards is the top cashback website to earn cashback and save on all your online shopping. Read our reviews.